Warum und wie sollte ich Frailty erfassen? – ein Ansatz für die Anästhesieambulanz

Tackling the frailty burden with an integrative value-based approach: results from a mixed-methods study

Aim

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the implementation of value-based care principles in the context of frailty in the perioperative process, highlighting the importance of an integrative perspective considering medical and patient-centric outcomes as well as costs.

Subject and methods

This mixed-methods study employs a sequential design. Qualitative observational data were used to identify needs and barriers for implementing value-based principles, and quantitative methods were subsequently used to demonstrate the value of employing such an approach using data gathered from n = 952 patients. Propensity score matching was applied to identify the frailty-associated costs of the inpatient setting for n = 381 non-frail and n = 381 (pre-)frail patients, in particular considering patient-centric outcomes.

Results

The qualitative analysis identified three main challenges when implementing value-based principles in the context of perioperative care and frailty, namely challenges related to the cost, patient-centric, and integrative perspectives. In addressing these shortcomings, a quantitative analysis of a propensity score-matched sample of patients undergoing surgery shows additional frailty-associated costs of 3583.01 [1654.92; 5511.04] EUR for (pre-)frail patients and the influence of individual patient-centric attributes. Effect size Cohen’s d was 0.26.

Conclusion

The results demonstrate that frailty should be considered from an integrative perspective, taking cost, patient-centered outcomes, and medical outcomes into account simultaneously. The results also show the value of a research design which uses qualitative data for the identification of needs and barriers, as well as quantitative data for demonstrating the usefulness of the conceived value-based approach to perioperative care delivery.

Validation of a Laser Ranged Scanner-Based Detection of Spatio-Temporal Gait Parameters Using the aTUG Chair

This article covers the suitability to measure gait-parameters via a Laser Range Scanner (LRS) that was placed below a chair during the walking phase of the Timed Up&Go Test in a cohort of 92 older adults (mean age 73.5). The results of our study demonstrated a high concordance of gait measurements using a LRS in comparison to the reference GAITRite walkway. Most of aTUG's gait parameters demonstrate a strong correlation coefficient with the GAITRite, indicating high measurement accuracy for the spatial gait parameters. Measurements of velocity had a correlation coefficient of 99%, which can be interpreted as an excellent measurement accuracy. Cadence showed a slightly lower correlation coefficient of 96%, which is still an exceptionally good result, while step length demonstrated a correlation coefficient of 98% per leg and stride length with an accuracy of 99% per leg. In addition to confirming the technical validation of the aTUG regarding its ability to measure gait parameters, we compared results from the GAITRite and the aTUG for several parameters (cadence, velocity, and step length) with results from the Berg Balance Scale (BBS) and the Activities-Specific Balance Confidence-(ABC)-Scale assessments. With confidence coefficients for BBS and velocity, cadence and step length ranging from 0.595 to 0.798 and for ABC ranging from 0.395 to 0.541, both scales demonstrated only a medium-sized correlation. Thus, we found an association of better walking ability (represented by the measured gait parameters) with better balance (BBC) and balance confidence (ABC) overall scores via linear regression. This results from the fact that the BBS incorporates both static and dynamic balance measures and thus, only partly reflects functional requirements for walking. For the ABC score, this effect was even more pronounced. As this is to our best knowledge the first evaluation of the association between gait parameters and these balance scores, we will further investigate this phenomenon and aim to integrate further measures into the aTUG to achieve an increased sensitivity for balance ability.

Cost-effectiveness of prehabilitation prior to elective surgery compared to usual preoperative care: protocol for a systematic review of economic evaluations

INTRODUCTION

Preoperative functional capacity is an important predictor of postoperative outcomes. Prehabilitation aims to optimise patients' functional capacity before surgery to improve postoperative outcomes. As prolonged hospital stay and postoperative complications present an avoidable use of healthcare resources, prehabilitation might also save costs.The aim of this systematic review is to investigate the cost-effectiveness of prehabilitation programmes for patients awaiting elective surgery compared with usual preoperative care. The results will be useful to inform decisions about the implementation of prehabilitation programmes and the design of future economic evaluations of prehabilitation programmes.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

We will search PubMed, Embase, the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination Database, the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform and ClinicalTrials.gov for full or partial economic evaluations of preoperative prehabilitation programmes conducted in any population compared with usual preoperative care. Studies will be included regardless of the type, design and perspective of the economic evaluation, and their publication year, language or status. Initial searches were performed between 30 April and 4 May 2020.Study selection, data extraction and assessment of the included studies' risk of bias and methodological quality will initially be performed by two independent reviewers and, if agreement was sufficiently high, by one reviewer. We will extract data regarding the included studies' basic characteristics, economic evaluation methods and cost-effectiveness results.A narrative synthesis will be performed. The primary endpoint will be cost-effectiveness based on cost-utility analyses. We will discuss heterogeneity between the studies and assess the risk of publication bias. The certainty of the evidence will be determined using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation approach.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

Ethics approval is not required as the systematic review will not involve human participants. We plan to present our findings at scientific conferences, pass them on to relevant stakeholder organisations and publish them in a peer-reviewed journal.

PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER

CRD42020182813.

Safety and quality of perioperative anesthesia care-Ensuring safe care for older people living with frailty

The clinical concept of frailty as a detectable and improvable clinical condition has emerged in the field of geriatric medicine over the past two decades. Albeit frailty can be described as the rapid deterioration of organ function during the physiological aging process, this syndrome is not exclusively limited to the elderly. Recently, this concept has been introduced in the field of anesthesia and critical care as a means to better appraise perioperative risks and offer patient-centered individual treatment pathways. Extensive efforts have been invested into the research on tools for the detection and quantification of frailty. However, while multiple tools have been validated for the detection of frailty in different populations, no universal score or test has been validated to be universally applicable. Furthermore, it is unclear whether interventions capable of improving the detected degree of frailty may result in better outcomes. Ongoing and future research is aimed at developing automated systems that help in harnessing standard medical records for reliable frailty screening without additional user input. Further efforts are pointed at understanding the potential reversibility of frailty through interventions such as exercise or nutritional supplements. While the role of frailty detection, quantification, and treatment in anesthesia and critical care is limited today, it is likely that it may become a key element of perioperative care of older patients in the near future.

Routine frailty assessment predicts postoperative complications in elderly patients across surgical disciplines - a retrospective observational study

BACKGROUND

Frailty is a frequent and underdiagnosed functional syndrome involving reduced physiological reserves and an increased vulnerability against stressors, with severe individual and socioeconomic consequences. A routine frailty assessment was implemented at our preoperative anaesthesia clinic to identify patients at risk.

OBJECTIVE

This study examines the relationship between frailty status and the incidence of in-hospital postoperative complications in elderly surgical patients across several surgical disciplines.

DESIGN

Retrospective observational analysis.

SETTING

Single center, major tertiary care university hospital. Data collection took place between June 2016 and March 2017.

PATIENTS

Patients 65 years old or older were evaluated for frailty using Fried's 5-point frailty assessment prior to elective non-cardiac surgery. Patients were classified into non-frail (0 criteria, reference group), pre-frail (1-2 positive criteria) and frail (3-5 positive criteria) groups.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

The incidence of postoperative complications was assessed until discharge from the hospital, using the roster from the National VA Surgical Quality Improvement Program. Propensity score matching and logistic regression analysis were performed.

RESULTS

From 1186 elderly patients, 46.9% were classified as pre-frail (n = 556), and 11.4% as frail (n = 135). The rate of complications were significantly higher in the pre-frail (34.7%) and frail groups (47.4%), as compared to the non-frail group (27.5%). Similarly, length of stay (non-frail: 5.0 [3.0;7.0], pre-frail: 7.0 [3.0;9.0], frail 8.0 [4.5;12.0]; p < 0.001) and discharges to care facilities (non-frail:1.6%, pre-frail: 7.4%, frail: 17.8%); p < 0.001) were significantly associated with frailty status. After propensity score matching and logistic regression analysis, the risk for developing postoperative complications was approximately two-fold for pre-frail (OR 1.78; 95% CI 1.04-3.05) and frail (OR 2.08; 95% CI 1.21-3.60) patients.

CONCLUSIONS

The preoperative frailty assessment of elderly patients identified pre-frail and frail subgroups to have the highest rate of postoperative complications, regardless of age, surgical discipline, and surgical risk. Significantly increased length of hospitalisation and discharges to care facilities were also observed. Implementation of routine frailty assessments appear to be an effective tool in identifying patients with increased risk. Now future studies are needed to investigate whether patients benefit from optimization of patient counselling, process planning, and risk reduction protocols based on the application of risk stratification.

The Perioperative Care of Older Patients

BACKGROUND

Elderly patients are a growing and vulnerable group with an elevated perioperative risk. Perioperative treatment pathways that take these patients' special risks and requirements into account are often not implemented in routine clinical practice.

METHODS

This review is based on pertinent publications retrieved by a selective search in PubMed, the AWMF guideline database, and the Cochrane database for guidelines from Germany and abroad, meta-analyses, and Cochrane reviews.

RESULTS

The care of elderly patients who need surgery calls for an interdisciplinary, interprofessional treatment concept. One component of this concept is preoperative preparation of the patient ("prehabilitation"), which is best initiated before hospital admission, e.g., correction of deficiency states, optimization of chronic drug treatment, and respiratory training. Another important component consists of pre-, intra-, and postoperative measures to prevent delirium, which can lower the frequency of this complication by 30-50%: these include orientation aids, avoidance of inappropriate drugs for elderly patients, adequate analgesia, early mobilization, short fasting times, and a perioperative nutrition plan. Preexisting cognitive impairment predisposes to postoperative delirium (odds ratios [OR] ranging from 2.5 to 4.5). Frailty is the most important predictor of the postoperative course (OR: 2.6-11). It follows that preoperative assessment of the patient's functional and cognitive status is essential.

CONCLUZION

The evidence-based and guideline-consistent care of elderly patients requires not only close interdisciplinary, interprofessional, and cross-sectoral collaboration, but also the restructuring and optimization of habitual procedural pathways in the hospital. Elderly patients' special needs can only be met by a treatment concept in which the entire perioperative phase is considered as a single, coherent process.